


Murphy's law

by GrumpyTsundereShipper



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Naruto is unappreciated, Sakura Bashing, Sasuke Bashing, bugger off Sasuke, kakashi bashing - Freeform, take a hike emo boy, we all love iruka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 09:45:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17098256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyTsundereShipper/pseuds/GrumpyTsundereShipper
Summary: Naruto had invested the last pieces of his scarred heart in team 7, his investments never pay off.After Naruto watches the collapse of team 7 he just couldn't bring himself to reinvest again, the shards of his heart were too fine to hold nevermind gift to another. He just can't bring himself to hurt again so he throws himself into his training, so what happens when he and Sasuke cross paths outside the village? Or when Sasuke decides to return?





	1. Chapter 1

Faulting a small blond orphan for scrambling to grasp even fragments of what one could potentially call a family would be inhumane and rather illogical. Of course that is exactly what little Uzumaki Naruto did when he saw a large fragment in team 7. In Naruto's life there has only been a select few opportunities to obtain even a sliver of such a dream, such an unattainable dream. So when Naruto saw the impressive glinting jewel presented to him in the shape of a Jounin and two other Genin he was blinded by the promise and potential of what could be, he did not see what was. The jewel bled flaws, its very structure was fragile.

 

Naruto had to overlook many of these burning flaws to stare into the enchanting colour that drifted through so many of his dreams. Flaws like Sakura's treatment of him, he told himself that it just how people responded to him, that she would be one like Iruka to overcome whatever it was that made people hurt him. Or perhaps it was Sasuke's lust for vindication that ruined it all. 

 

Naruto had overlooked these burning flaws, realistically he would have treasured the jewel even if it had became molten. When one is deprived of human necessities desperation can make one settle for something in replacement, even if it brands the skin or is far below the quality we deserve. Naruto only desire was love. So he smiled and grinned his way through the days, petitioning for any attention he could gain from any of his teammates, feverishly gripping to his greatest opportunity.

He had seen other kids smile at their parents and friends, if it worked for them why wasn't it working for me? Was what Naruto debated every time he paced home after being rejected over a date by Sakura and dismissed monosyllabically by Sasuke. Naruto's pace always increased when he was out of sight of his teammates, villagers around here were not to be trusted when Naruto was alone, he has had many a black eye to attest to this well-founded fear.

 

Or perhaps the greatest crack in the jewel was Naruto himself. His presence? Maybe even his instinctive tension towards others, paranoia tragically labelled a by-product of this behaviour by those who knew not of Naruto's 'condition'. He gripped too hard, he trusted too much.  
So when Naruto stood in front of Sasuke in a last attempt to dissuade the avenger from leaving the village, watching his biggest chance rave fanatically about revenge and power, Naruto finally woke up from his dream. 

 

Team 7 had never been designed to be permanent. That jewel was only a well polished shard of glass masquerading as a crystal. No. Naruto wanted to believe it was  
far beyond its own value, he saw what he wanted, what he desperately craved. 

"Don't get in my way dobe, Konoha has never been my home since the massacre. Itachi needs to die, I need to avenge my clan!" Filthy anger spewed from the dark haired boy's mouth, lips drawing back in a snarl in premature prediction of Naruto's answer. 

Naruto felt almost pressured into giving the expected reply, but a spiritless laugh curled out of Naruto's lips, softly mimicking cigarette smoke before he could fire out a trademark response. "Then leave." Coupling the cold remark, the foxy grin had rolled off of Naruto's face, revealing engraved stress lines from years of tension and a pair of eyes belonging to an age weary soldier. "You're right, you don't belong here anymore, so take your Uchiha privilege and leave."

It took a few minutes for Sasuke to break out of his confusion-induced silence, "So you're not stopping me?"  
"Why would i stop you? I have no use for people like you in Konoha." Dark eyes searched tired blue, either taking note of the obvious dimmed hues or the dreariness behind them. "You... Nevermind, just don't get in my way." Sasuke, unable to think of any other response to the bizarre turn of events turned his back once more against Konoha and the unconscious pinkette lying at his heels.

"Hey Sasuke, do me two last favours?" Defensive now, Sasuke prepared for a heartfelt farewell or impossible request, "when we see each other again we will only be strangers, as far as I am concerned Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha dies tonight." Sasuke almost spun back in shock, for Naruto who had so intensely advocated their friendship to renounce even their aquaintanceship himself was surreal.

"And the other?" A carefully toned voice rang out, masking his earlier shock. 

"Never come back." This one Sasuke could readily agree to.


	2. Chapter 2

Damn damn damn! This was getting too close. Hurried footsteps and blind elbow jabs was not what Naruto was paying attention to, the scroll in his hand detailing an extremely volatile seal was. He had been working on this for months and right when he was about to finish he was summoned to present it, even jolting the ink an millimeter could set off the entire seal and ruin his masterpiece! 

A 20 year old Naruto paid no heed to the angry muttering of foreign villagers or the loud quips about a rude tourist, he elbowed and barged through the crowd without so much as looking up. Because of Konoha’s many alliances Naruto was constantly traveling from village to village with his expertise, experimenting and creating seals in order to fulfill a request. Naturally the request had to be sanctified by Konoha but really Naruto was essentially a freelance seal master, he was paid by the village requesting the seal and Konoha took a minuscule cut. At this point Konoha was more of a management agency, but the benefits of having their high-up connections allowed Naruto not only to build an elite clientele, but also a intense spy network. 

It was here, in the Village of the Stream that Sasuke saw a nostalgic figure. It had been 8 years since Sasuke had seen Naruto despite both of their extensive traveling. Sasuke knew the deal they had made to become strangers, but after 8 years the promise felt obsolete in his mind as he stood a few meters from the crowd, watching Naruto rip though the locals. 

The team he had assembled stopped dutifully, confused by his abrupt halt, “Sasuke? What are you looking at?” Karin, the red headed Uzumaki, latched onto his arm, following his line of sight, “holy shit that’s Uzumaki Naruto!” Sasuke spun in alarm at the recognition, forgetting to shake her off. 

“You know Naruto?”   
“Of course I know him Sasuke, he’s an elusive top tier seal master. I heard he re-sealed a tailed beast into a dead jinjuriki in his spare time, resurrected the kid and then went on to scold the tailed beast. Not to mention he’s a distant relative of mine.” Karin shrugged. 

Suigetsu ignored the explanation, obviously familiar with it, “sounds like you know Uzumaki-San well Sasuke.” Sasuke didn’t deign to answer his comrade, instead examining the lean 6,2’ blond making their way towards them. 

Naruto finally emerged from the crowd, in front of the group. Naruto didn’t spare a glance at Sasuke and went to barge through them, this uncaring attitude irritated the avenger. 

“Naruto.” That would get him to notice him, Sasuke thought firmly. It did not.   
“Naruto!”   
“I’m busy!” The overworked ninja snapped, finally looking up. His eyebrows raised an inch but there was nothing else. 

Sasuke, a little fazed by the dismissal, hautily moved directly in Naruto’s path, “what could a dobe like you be busy for?” Naruto’s gaze travelled through Sasuke. 

“Look... uh, mate, I don’t have the time for a fight, if I’ve killed your relative or something get your revenge another day!” At first Sasuke thought Naruto was bluffing. 

“Naruto you’re really going to go through with that favour? We’re not little kids anymore.” He shouldn’t care, he really shouldn’t, but when Naruto examined him loosely, a little lost Sasuke couldn’t help but growl. 

Clicking his fingers in time with his enlightenment, Naruto exclaimed “Ah! Uchiha...”  
“Sasuke.” This was really pissing him off.   
“Sasuke of course.” Naruto repeated with the universal polite apologetic smile for forgetting a person’s name. 

“Sorry Uchiha we’ll catch up some other time, this scroll could set fire at any point and ruin my work. See you around!” Seething at the obvious pity, Sasuke went to grab Naruto’s shoulder, only for his hand to snatch at air. 

The team tried hard to muffle their giggles at Sasuke’s blatant rejection, but all that did was further enrage the dark haired ninja.


	3. Chapter 3

The same day Sasuke had encountered Naruto for the first time, a second encounter was scheduled. 

“Sasuke... I think you should s-stop.” Karin tugged meekly on Sasuke’s pale arm which was now sporting his 6th finger of sake. 

Damn Dobe! Who does he think he is ignoring him, Uchiha Sasuke! And pretending he didn’t remember him. 

Stupid blond idiot dobe! Sitting there like he didn’t care-

Sasuke’s drink threatened to dribble from his thin lips as he stared disbelievingly at the scroll master. Naruto’s head was dipped in another scroll, this one visibly different from the last. One hand fisting his messy sun drenched hair and another resting on an ink pot, Naruto muttered obsessively to himself, adjusting the splashed ink into something apparently legible to him. 

Sasuke threw back his drink, he couldn’t be sober for another round with his amnesiac blond. Karin trailed after Sasuke hopelessly, quipping loudly at his strange behavior. 

“Naruto.” The avenger ground out, the alcohol making his voice drop into a husky base layer. The sun-kissed ninja’s head bobbed up and then down absentmindedly acknowledging his childhood friend, “Uchiha Sasuke.” Secretly still unsure of his name. 

“If you’re here to cash in on that fight, I need a rain check, I’ve got 16 new orders from 3 different Kages to finish before midnight. Let’s fight in... a while.” Naruto flipped open a bright orange book next to him, printed obnoxiously on the front was ‘SCHEDULE’, Naruto lazily ran through it, but Karin and Sasuke’s eyes grew at the impossibly jammed days. 

How he had time to even eat was beyond them. 

 

“What are you, a workaholic?” Karin chipped in, unable to stop herself from remarking. Naruto’s eyes flashed fiercely at the accurate accusation, “My village sends in requests and I have a short deadline for each. Apparently I’m a popular name-“ the rest of the monologue was mumbled into the scroll. Sasuke’s katana slid out of its sheath, anger manipulating the movement akin to a puppet on a string.

“You shouted so much about becoming the Hokage when you were a kid, pledging idiotically to be a powerful ninja, but look at you now, you’ve just become some mediocre seal maker.” Sneering pompously, Sasuke’s katana was brandished in the glinting pub light, angled to make contact right in the middle of the precious scroll. The blade didn’t make that contact. The feeling was ineffable for Sasuke, no matter how much of his weight he put on his blade or chakra he pumped into it, Naruto’s hand showed no signs of moving. 

Finally Sasuke gained Naruto’s undivided attention, only to see what he was missing. Naruto pushed back from his table, almost slotting into himself, his very skin oozed experienced maturity and an intense irritation. 

Karin’s forehead became slick with the raw intimidation that Uzumaki Naruto was producing, her cheeks aflame with the unquestionable confidence Naruto inspired. 

“If you have no respect for a seal master, you obviously do not understand what my work entails. What every other ninja does, Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjustsus I have, just looking at you I can tell that to those menial essentials you’ve completely dedicated yourself. They aren’t hard to master, you seem to be under the impression that I have abandoned them as skills for seal mastery. If thats the case, I don’t converse nor associate with naive fools. Retrieve your dagger before it melts.” And Naruto was right, the very blade of Sasuke’s meter long katana was beginning to glow a sickly red, the colour deepened around where Naruto ‘s hand resided painlessly. 

Sasuke retracted the sword disturbed. 

“This isn’t over Naruto.” 

“I’m sure it isn’t Uchiha-san.”


	4. Chapter 4

The two did not encounter each other for another few years though things did change. Sasuke actively listened out for information about Naruto, even he had to admit it was a hard topic to avoid, it was just that he had been so wrapped up in his own situation that he hadn’t been paying attention to the real world. 

Naruto was a big name. Sasuke had no idea just how many urban legends, myths and plain rumours there were about his childhood friend until he started listening. According to those rumours Naruto was never in one place for very long, and seeing the exclusive seal master was incredible in itself. 

No matter where Sasuke went, which village he hid away in, Naruto’s name lingered on the tongues of people from all walks of life and hung in the air like a heavy aromatic spice in even the darkest, dingiest corners of private villages. It was a strange sensation... to be forgotten by someone who was such a large part of one’s life, really Sasuke was usually the one forgetting or more accurately, ignoring. 

So when Sasuke turned 23 he broke the second half of his promise. He returned to Konoha. He had achieved what he wanted, Itachi was dead, now he had made his peace, so he dumped his team and came home,

The shinobi of the village did not welcome him with open arms but the civilians did. The pink one cried a lot. So much snot, if Sasuke had known the pink haired girl would get this much snot on his favourite cloak he would not have come back.

“Uchiha Sasuke, you have turned yourself in, you know the council has ordered a house arrest and constant ANBU guards for 2 years as your punishment. I need to know why-“ Tsunade ground out, irritation leaking from her expression at Sasuke’s airy attitude. 

“Where’s Naruto.” The pinkette’s sniffling grew quieter for a moment, a puzzled look of uncertainty crossed her unruly expression, “he’s not in the village of course.” 

Sasuke rose a dark eyebrow at the nonchalant instinctive answer. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Where is he?” 

“Oh I’m sorry Sasuke-kun of course you don’t know, Naruto is always out of the village and busy. We haven’t seen him for 2 years.” Sakura filled in, desperate to change the subject to Sasuke. Said boy snorted derisively. Damn, his reason for coming back to the village wasn’t even in the damn village!

“When is he coming back.” Tsunade was lost for words until she really saw Sasuke’s eyes. In those pools of rich black was a flitting emotion that she recognized far too well. He no longer needed to answer her question. 

“He’s meant to come back in a month’s time to collect his next assignments.” Sakura was stunned at Tsunade’s submission, revealing to a traitor (although the love of her life, still a traitor) where and when the village’s greatest asset was going to be, not to mention an asset that has a deep intensely negative history with the traitor. Not to mention the information was classified to even shinobi of her rank! The movements of Uzumaki Naruto was an S class secret.

Sasuke nodded calmly, internally grateful for the information, he had already logged the exact day Naruto should be back. 

Like hell Sasuke’s going to let Naruto get away with not remembering him!


	5. Chapter 5

Dutifully Naruto leafed through his schedule, back pressed against the rock Kage’s tower. Surely he didn’t have any more left, all his orders recently had him completely exhausted, he could hardly bring himself to look at his day’s schedule. 

Travel to Konoha, huh?

 

Sasuke was twitching. Sakura didn’t seem to understand the word traitor. Instead she seemed very well versed in the term of unwelcome house guest. Sasuke eyed the overbearing Pinkette who was cooing at the size of his house and the expensive furnishings, making off handed comments about how much more comfortable the house was than isolation. Naruto was meant to be coming home, he didn’t need Sakura messing this up with her.... being. 

House arrest was okay, but being in a fixed place where people could easily locate and visit him was the torture part. Instead being the opportunist he is, Sasuke used every visitor to extract information about Naruto. It was strange, it seems there were only two reactions to his inquiries, one was an nonchalant attitude, like they predicted that Naruto would be the only thing Sasuke would be interested in, the other half was surprised that Sasuke showed any interest in someone he had rebuked so harshly in the past and became defensive or clammed up. 

Sakura was the former, quipping every so often about Naruto changing his habits or his mannerisms every time she saw him, she always chalked it up to foreign interventions. This was the only viable reason Sasuke could justify her still breathing in his presence. 

 

There was one part of Naruto she always seemed to gloss over, no matter how much Sasuke pushed her, she refused to talk about what happened immediately after his departure and how Naruto reacted. Her face twisted painfully every time. 

The ANBU would be escorting him to meet Naruto again, Tsunade had understood. 

Naruto had haunted his every thought since he had left the village, his ideals and morals would chime in every time Sasuke would make a decision. There even moments when Sasuke felt his tiny heart throbbing at the memories. But that dull throb was nothing compared to the stabbing pain that had come with Naruto forgetting his name. Of course, Sasuke always hid his emotions with anger and demands, so that’s how Sasuke arrived at the decision of fighting Konoha’s greatest seal master. 

Wordlessly Sasuke left Sakura gawking in his house, not bothering to bring anything with him or close his door. Naruto was coming back today. Missing him was out of the question. 

So Sasuke eyed the moving shadows uncaringly, they should count themselves fortunate to witness such a ultimate fight. So standing by the village gate may have seemed a little desperate, but this man was the very reason why Sasuke survived so long in Oorochimaru’s tutelage, his words and ideals had helped him strive for more power, and now the man himself brought him back home.

“Uchiha Sasuke?”


	6. Chapter 6

It was the first time Sasuke had seen Naruto without his nose buried in a scroll. He would be lying if he didn’t feel a spark of satisfaction in having those tired and overworked eyes trained on only him. 

Naruto was on the verge of tearing off his skin with his ink drowned fingertips, the weight of the scrolls coupled with the triple layered robes added fuel to the sleep deprived fire. But seeing a challenger standing in his way with the body language of a serious fighter, Naruto almost wished for the sweet release of death. If he hadn’t known any better he’d think someone was screwing with him. The heat rippled across the gap between the two childhood friends, mimicking the surface of a disturbed lake. Lake full of acid if Naruto had his way. 

So instead of complaining, the seal master began to unclip his equipment, irritation crushing his sweat swimming chest as he unwrapped himself from the carefully placed parchments. Once he took it all off he wouldn’t want to put it back on, this whole situation is ridiculous. 

Sliding into his usual stance, Sasuke practiced ignorance to Naruto’s condition, the adrenaline already pumping, “Naruto! Let’s finish this.” Finish what exactly Naruto had no idea, but apparently fighting was how the Uchiha wanted to do things. 

“I’m sorry I killed her.” The words dropped from Naruto’s panting lips. Sasuke’s eyebrow raise was visible from where Naruto was slumping, “What?”

It was Naruto’s turn to revise what he just said. He was certain he had killed someone’s sister at some point, but at this point he was just guessing at the gender of the person he had obviously killed off from this.... Uchiha? It was Uchiha right?

Sasuke obviously didn’t care about the slip up as he still went to attack Naruto once the blond had relieved himself of his burdens. Lidded eyes followed the jabs, twisting Naruto’s journey-worn body around the calculated strikes. Still ridiculous. At this point Naruto was even considering allowing Sasuke to tap him a few times and let him pass. 

Contradictory to what Naruto was thinking he still allowed the fight to go on for about 2 hours. Ninjutsu, fuinjustu, taijutsu, Sasuke proved himself excellent in all and Naruto was starting to have fun. 

The burning scratched at his arm, impatiently reminding him of his responsibilities during one of Sasuke’s fireballs. Sighing again, Naruto dispelled it with a simple sign. He could either shut this down with a simple seal or overpower the dark haired shinobi with one his precious ninja arts. No, the overpowering would be too humiliating, Sasuke had proved a mildly interesting way to pass the time, so pity is the way to go. Backing away a few feet from their self created ring, Naruto grabbed one his discarded parchments and tossed it in front of him. Within moments of its contact with the ground and Naruto’s handseal, Sasuke’s body hit the floor. His sharingan pulsed painfully, twisting his reality with a uncertain grip. But no matter the bleeding pain in his eyes, he could still feel the hand that gripped the back of his shirt, hoisting the dark haired heir over the blond’s shoulder. 

Great. More baggage.


End file.
